


Friends (But Wishing We Were More)

by Spindlly



Series: Heartache [2]
Category: Fallout 4
Genre: A little more lighthearted, Angst, Crushes, Dog Watching and Bar Misery, F/M, Fluff, Jealous, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-09-26 05:28:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20384422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spindlly/pseuds/Spindlly
Summary: You don’t really dream about a girl’s eyes and how great you feel when you make her happy unless you’re in love, he figured. The thought made him want to hide under a car for three hundred years.It was so much worse when someone you realize you love is already in love with somebody else...





	Friends (But Wishing We Were More)

Hancock was jealous.

It had started with Ashlyn walking away with someone else’s arm around her waist, and he’d been so surprised by the emotion he’d pushed it aside as being higher than a kite. 

But then he’d watched some guy steal a kiss in front of him at the Third Rail.

Then later he’d listened to her talk about her boyfriend neglecting her while he had her head in his lap and his rough hands carding through her softer than corn silk hair. 

And later watched her have a great time in the bar with the guy without him.

It finally sunk in when she had smiled across the table at her boyfriend, and Hancock had thought she was smiling at him for a split second before the realization hit, and then envy hit him like a falling supermutant corpse.

Now, normally he wasn’t the type to get jealous over stuff like this. Girls he liked all found their fancy at some point, and he could let it go, right as rain and without another thought.

Usually. Ashlyn was the exception, apparently. And it bothered him that he couldn’t move on like usual.

Hancock glared sullenly down at his half-empty beer bottle, Whitechapel Charlie idly cleaning a glass a few feet along the bar counter. He had been sitting here for easily three hours now, and he knew it was well past midnight despite not looking up at the clock. Nobody else was here besides them, and Charlie was polite enough to let him stay without question.

Why  _ couldn’t  _ he get past her?

She was dating Wayne. Had been for about four months now. He should have been able to stop caring at this point, stop feeling these stabs of jealousy whenever he saw them together, stop thinking about her every other minute of the day.

But Hancock hadn’t been able to stop himself at all. And he didn’t know why.

No, that wasn’t true- he  _ did  _ know. He just didn’t want to admit it to himself. Admitting it would be admitting that he liked a girl who was taken.

Hell… he had liked her ever since she first came to Goodneighbor. 

She was cheerful, good-spirited, and somehow managed to find a way to bring a smile to people's faces without resorting to the ridiculous. 

And she wasn’t afraid of peaceful physical contact either. 

She hugged and touched anyone who let her in comforting ways, constantly showering chaste attention on her friends and companions in unusual displays of affection.

_ She has a smile that lights up a room too, _ Hancock thought, sighing softly and taking a small sip from his beer. 

_ Bright, storm-cloud eyes shining with little lightning bolts of fierceness when she’s speaking up for what she believes in, glittering like lit sparklers when she’s happy... _

Damn. 

He had it worse than he thought didn’t he? He knew he had like her a lot, but  _ this  _ much?

You don’t really dream about a girl’s eyes and how great you feel when you make her happy unless you’re in love, he figured. The thought made him want to hide under a car for three hundred years.

It was so much worse when someone you realize you love is already in love with somebody else...

Part of him wanted to just go and  _ take  _ her from the guy she was with. Wayne was such a punk. Didn’t appreciate her fully. Liked her in dresses, purring empty crap, and giggling on his lap all the time, instead of listening to her talk about her favorite kind of gun (.22 Silenced Pistol), or what her adventures were like when she wasn’t sucking Wayne’s-

_ No. Bad.  _ John scowled, internally berating himself. She liked Wayne for a reason, even if Piper  _ had  _ set them up. Being a jealous asshole wasn’t the right way to approach almost  _ any _ kind of situation. 

It didn’t make him feel any better though. He still wished Ashlyn would look at him the same way she looked at Wayne. Wished he could slip his arms around her waist and lower his head just enough to-

“John, there you are!” 

Hancock startled, knees hitting the edge of the counter as he started to turn on reflex, Charlie flatly catching the beer bottle when it went unintentionally flying. “ _ Jesus _ , Ashlyn! What are you-  _ whoa. _ ”

She was dressed all rough and tumble in a set of custom leathers that accented a well-rounded but slim form, the armor painted in military green and covered in white stars and the decorative patches she had been telling him about a week ago. Her corn-silk platinum hair was pulled back with a black headband, keeping the stray curls out of her dirt-stained face, and she was wearing a new set of earrings shaped like birds. 

The look was startlingly attractive, and all he could do for a second was stare like an idiot.

Ashlyn made a face at him, eyes shining with humor and fondness as she sized him up. “Hi! You look terrible. Have you been here all night?”

“Uh…” He darted his gaze down at himself and then to the clock, trying to calm his racing heartbeat.  _ She’s gorgeous, how- _

_ Holy shit, is it really 5AM?!  _

“‘E’s been here for six hours straight,” Charlie grumbled, having already cleaned out the bottle and stashed it away. “Take ‘im out before the mornin’ watch catches on.”

Ashlyn laughed at Hancock’s expression and extended her hand to him. “Come on, Mr. Mayor, I think you need a drink of some good, clean water before I ask you a little favor and then send you to bed.”

“What kind of favor?” The words were out of his mouth before he realized he was forming them, taking her hand without hesitation. 

“Water first,” she assured him, smiling as she led him out of the bar. 

Hancock pouted at her, settling back into the comfortable comradery they had built up.  _ No sense making it awkward _ . “You’re such a saint, sister.”

She winked, then changed the subject as they went into his office. “So, why were you in there anyways?”

He grimaced, sitting down on the couch as she rummaged around in the cabinets.  _ What do I say? _ “...bad day.”

Ashlyn pouted, coming over and sitting beside him before she handed over the water, which he took without complaint. “Sorry to hear that, John. Fahrenheit being a brat?”

“Nah, nah.” The ghoul took a swig of the water, trying not to gag on the dusty flavor of nothingness. “Just… restless.”

“Maybe you should take a break?” She suggested curiously. “That always seems to help you.”

“Maybe.” He gave her a thin smile, eyeing the water. 

She tilted her head down a little to give him a pointed look.

He sighed and finished the water, then crushed the container in his fist, the aluminum collapsing like tinfoil. “Happy now?”

Ashlyn beamed, and he swore some part of him melted inside. “Much.”

“Good.” He cleared his throat to get the crack in it to go away. “What’s the favor you needed?”

She got a sort of guilty smile. “Well…”

Hancock instantly knew what she was asking. “Oh god no.”

“Please? You know he loves you.”

“Do I  _ have _ to? How long will you be gone?”

“Only a few days, that's all,” she promised. “I need to do a chore in Diamond City and I can’t take him.”

“Ashlyn…” he groaned at the big eyed begging look she was giving him. “Dammit lady.”

“Pleeeeaaaaaassssse?” 

She pouted, and he couldn’t help it.

Hancock caved like he always did.

“Fine. I’ll watch your fucking pug.”

“Yes!!!! Thank you!” Ashlyn jumped up and planted a kiss on his cheek. “You’re a lifesaver.”

“I better get compensation for this,” he mumbled, glad his leathery skin mostly hid the blush he wore. 

“You will,” she promised, giving him a look of complete adoration, and Hancock swore to himself that he would watch her pug every damn day if she only looked at him like that again. “I’ll be back soon! Sleep good, okay?”

He nodded, waving goodbye as she raced out, already on her way.

“...she’s such a fucking sweetheart.”

A heavily congested snort was his only reply, and he looked over his shoulder to see her pug, Walter, the living, walking, ugly but also cute abomination of a dog staring at him with a look of absolute contempt and boredom.

“What are you looking at, ugly?” Hancock challenged.

Walter stared at him for a whole thirty seconds, sneezed, and then walked over to Hancock’s feet and rolled over, silently demanding belly rubs.

He obliged. 

He loved Ashlyn, but seriously, he doubted her taste in pets.


End file.
